‘The Wizard of Oz’ at Sphere Reimagines Classic Film with Revolutionary Sound and Seat Technology
Audiences will soon follow the yellow brick road like never before. “The Wizard of Oz at Sphere," opening August 28th, brings the iconic 1939 film to life in a fully immersive environment, leveraging state-of-the-art audio innovation, haptic seat vibrations, and wraparound visuals. Developed by Sphere Studios and presented by Sphere Entertainment Co., this groundbreaking reinterpretation uses next-generation technology to create an experience that’s both reverent to the original and completely transformative.
Innovations in Sound Design
Sphere Studios has unveiled a host of new sound features that elevate the cinematic experience to a new sensory level:
- Sphere Immersive Sound utilizes 167,000 individually controlled speakers to direct audio with pinpoint accuracy throughout the venue.
- The original mono score was painstakingly deconstructed into dialogue, music, and effects stems using advanced audio separation tools in collaboration with Warner Bros. Post Production Creative Services.
- A new orchestral score was recorded on the same 1930s scoring stage as the original, using over 80 musicians who employed vintage techniques like pizzicato and vibrato.
- A vintage ocarina used in the original “If I Only Had a Brain" was brought back for the re-recording, preserving the authentic sound.
- Each instrument section was individually miked, enabling directional sound to move with characters, such as the oscillating strings that mimic the Tin Man’s tilting motion.
- Haptic seat vibrations and infrasound are used to enhance storytelling moments:
- An eerie tone rumbles from the seats as characters enter the haunted forest.
- The Wizard’s booming voice and dramatic throne room encounter are matched with low-frequency seat tremors and reverberations.
- This marks the first-ever use of infrasound haptics to embed tones directly in audience seats, blending vibration and sound into an entirely physical auditory experience.
About the Experience
- Opening Date: August 28, 2025
- Location: Sphere Las Vegas, connected to The Venetian Resort
- Tickets: Start at $104, available now at thesphere.com
- Showtimes: Multiple daily performances
- Group Sales: For 9+ guests, call 725-258-7775 or email [email protected]
- Suites: Contact 725-258-6743 or email [email protected]
- Hotel Packages: Offered exclusively through The Venetian Resort Las Vegas
Using Sphere’s 160,000-square-foot interior LED display and its curved projection surface, the original 4:3 Wizard of Oz film is now expanded into a wraparound format. Environmental effects—including custom scents—help transport audiences from the Kansas plains to the Emerald City in a sensory journey that only Sphere can deliver.
The creative team behind the reimagining includes Grammy-winning music supervisor Julianne Jordan, Academy Award-nominated composer David Newman, and sound design veterans Paul Freeman, Shawn Murphy, and Richard King, among others.
For a deeper dive into the sound technology behind the experience, check out this video that goes behind-the-scenes of the audio transformation.
To Oz? To Oz!
While immersive presentations of classic films are nothing new—Disney has popularized live-to-film concert events like The Little Mermaid and Coco, and studios have remastered legacy titles for IMAX and 4DX—The Wizard of Oz at Sphere marks a radical evolution in the format. Rather than simply augmenting the original film with external elements, Sphere’s approach rewires the audiovisual core of the movie itself. Through sound separation, directional mixing, and seat-based haptics, the experience doesn’t just play the film louder or larger—it aims to transport audiences into it. This blend of archival fidelity and technological reinvention sets a new bar for cinematic revival.